NORTON SHORES -- Muskegon Commerce Bank has a new interim president, after its longtime president and chief executive officer -- the only chief the bank has ever had -- left the company Monday.

No longer at the helm is Robert J. McCarthy, the bank's president/CEO since it was established in 1997.

Named interim president was Dennis Kuhn, who is also president and CEO of Portage Commerce Bank, according to Angela Kimber, director of communications for the banks' parent company. Both banks are owned by Capitol Bancorp Limited, a Lansing-based company.

Kimber had no further information about the change. "We don't discuss any details as to why an individual is no longer with us," she said.

A message left on an answering machine at McCarthy's home this morning was not returned by deadline.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, Muskegon Commerce Bank's local board of directors has temporarily suspended itself, pending the completion of an earlier-announced deal to sell the bank to a new owner, according to a board member.

The forthcoming sale was announced April 1 of Muskegon Commerce Bank and three other small banks owned by Capitol Bancorp to Northstar Financial Group Inc., a privately held financial holding company based in Bad Axe. Federal regulators are reviewing the proposed sale.

Muskegon Commerce Bank director William C. Cooper, president of AMG Business Centers LLC, said the bank's local board decided to step out of the picture while the sale is pending.

Regarding McCarthy's departure, Cooper said, "I just think the bank wasn't performing as well as it could have. All of our local banks are having tough times. I have never seen the Muskegon economy be this bad, in my 25 years in business."

Muskegon Commerce Bank is based in Norton Shores at the Eastowne development at Seminole Road and Seaway Drive.